


Purgatory

by DarkZorua100



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Lots of implications and one sided affections when it comes to the pairings, Multi, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, nothing really clear cut so to speak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:28:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16270817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkZorua100/pseuds/DarkZorua100
Summary: Since the beginning of August, the villagers in the secluded land of Kakuri have been dropping like flies. As the death toll continues to rise at a alarming rate, the village’s doctor, Kusanagi Shoichi, and a new resident of the small town, Fujiki Yusaku, thinks there’s more to this epidemic then meets the eye when the dead appear to be refusing to stay dead.Based on the anime, Shiki.





	1. The First Death

**Author's Note:**

> I really should stop creating new projects when I haven't even come close to finishing the ones I'm already working on but this story has been in the works for a while now and after some much debating, I decided to just say screw it and post the first chapter since it is October and I wanted to write something for the season.
> 
> But anyway, this story is based on the anime Shiki. You don't have to see the anime to follow the story but if you looking for something for the season to watch, I recommend it. The only main complaint I really see people having about this anime is everyone's crazy hair and I just laugh because that show has crazy hair styles? Have you seen Yu-Gi-Oh? Compared to that, those "crazy hair styles" are normal. I know some people don't like the characters all that much either, since a lot of them are assholes, but I digress.
> 
> On that note, some people might be OOC for this but this is a different sitting so yeah that's my excuse.

**Friday, August 12, 2100**

 

Darkness has long since fallen over the forest of _Kakuri,_ making it impossible to see through its veil that has shrouded the eyes of the villagers. The only things that were keeping them from walking into each other and the trees that surrounded the large search group was the occasionals glimpses of moonlight that were peeking through the tree branches and the many shining lights of the group’s flashlights.

“Aoi-chan!”

“Zaizen-san!”

“Where are you?!”

“If you are here, say something!”

“Zaizen Aoi!”

“Aoi!”

Flashlights were moved around frantically from place to place, just as frantically as the villagers cries for a young girl who had gone missing earlier that day. The loudest of these cries belonged to Zaizen Akira, the older step-brother of the young lady, and the one to organize this search group in the first place when his sister didn’t show up for dinner. At first, he thought his sister was simply staying over at a friend’s house for dinner and she simply forgot to inform him of that information, Aoi had a tendency to do that a lot, but when Akira called to check in on her, no one answered. Thinking she was mad at him for something, Akira simply called each of Aoi’s friends’ places to see if she was there but each and every one of them told him that they haven’t seen her since school that day. At that point, Akira was starting to worry so he went around the small village of _Kakuri_ , where everyone knew everyone and everyone knew everything that went around the village, if they had seen his sister. The common response was “not since this morning, why?” and Akira didn’t answer them as he continued to ask each person he came across but it was just the same response of “no”.

That’s how this search party became to be.

“Aoi!” Akira called once more, looking high and low for his little sister, time definitely not being on his side as it only continued to get darker by the second. “Please answer me! Aoi!”

Unbeknownst to Akira, his sister laid in the bushes not to far from his current location, appearing more like a discarded broken doll then the young beautiful teenage girl that she was. The uniform she wore that day to school all dirty from the ground she laid upon along with the exposed parts of her skin that were cut and bruised as well. Her short brown hair a mess with twigs caught all in it and her brown eyes completely dull of life.

 

**Friday, August 12, 0800**

 

“Have you two seen the paper?”

Zaizen Aoi glanced over at her friend, Kamishirakawa Kiku, who was walking with her and their other friend, Homura Takeru, to the bus stop to school that day (normally they would have driven there but Takeru’s car was currently in the shop for repairs after a certain incident involving his younger brother and one of his friends trying to pull a real life Grand Theft Auto). Kiku was holding up a copy of the daily paper, her eyes wide in what appeared to be disbelief as she asked her friends that question.

“No but let me guess; someone claimed to be abducted by aliens again?” Takeru guessed with a grin. Aoi simply shook her head while Kiku shot Takeru a glare.

“No, you dork.” Kiku spoke, holding up the article she was reading to show to her friends. “Apparently three people were found dead in their homes!”

“What?! You can’t be serious?!”

“I’m very serious, Takeru!” Kiku said, flipping the newspaper back around so she could read out the details to them. “On August 6, last Saturday, three bodies were discovered in a neighboring village to the East. One from pure natural cases but the other two the police think were caused by rapid dogs. But the strange part about this whole thing, besides the part about there being rapid dogs out here, is that two of the deceased were living together.”

“How is that strange?” Takeru asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. “I’ve be more surprised if the rapid dogs didn’t kill everyone in the facility.”

“The person that died of natural causes was actually living with one of the victims.” Kiku corrected him. “And apparently it says here that she was living with his dead body for a few days and never reported it before she just kicked the can.”

“Oh sick.” Takeru looked ready to gag at that while Aoi looked just as nauseous. “How does something like that happen?”

“Shock maybe?” Kiku suggested. “Their brain just couldn’t handle that reality and was lead to believe that they were still alive and just in a deep sleep?”

“Maybe,” Takeru agreed with a nod, “or maybe-”

“Can we please stop talking about dead people?” Aoi spoke up, finally having enough with this conversation. She didn’t want to start her day off with talking about corpses or anyday for that matter. “Is there anything else in that paper that’s a bit less...disturbing?”

“Uh…” Kiku glanced through it quickly. “Well there’s this one article that talks about how the shrine statues and other religious artifacts around the villages have been getting destroyed.”

“Yeah I think I’ve heard about that.” Takeru chimed in. “Grandfather and grandmother were talking about that a while back. Grandfather was furious at the news, saying how the younger generation has no respect nowadays for their gods.”

 _I don’t blame them. What’s so great about all this stuff anyway?_ Aoi wondered. _The statues are just rocks and the religious stuff has never made sense to me ever since this village decided to start shoving it down my throat!_

Aoi and her older brother, Akira, moved to his village around five years ago from the city when Aoi was eleven after their parents died in a car accident with their relatives stealing all of their inheritance then kicking them to the curb. The only place that her brother could afford for them to live after that was in this village far far away from their previous home in Den City. Safe to say, it was no city life and Aoi hated it, not that she would ever tell her brother that. Sure she made friends since her move here, but she never could get used to the villagers getting all up in her business and just how religious they were. Once she graduated, Aoi had big plans to move back into the city with her brother, making it big as an idol, with definitely no plans to return here anytime soon, if ever. Her friends would just have to learn how to live without her. Still, there were two things that made life more bearable here, besides her friends and her brother, until that day came. The first being the huge castle-like house that was built recently on top of the hill that overlooked the whole village. It reminded Aoi of her old home before they lost it to their greedy relatives. Oh how she wished she and her brother could have moved into it when it was still available but sadly, it was sold off to some well-off family a few days ago, the sold sign that stood in front of the mansion crashing any hopes of that dream. Now Aoi dreams of someday meeting that family, to make friends with someone who could relate to her and her brother, once they finally arrived in the village. The second one…

“Hey Yusaku!” Takeru greeted, running up to the person who was waiting at the bus stop.

Aoi’s steps came to a holt at seeing who Takeru so fondly greeted while Yusaku only gave a nod to the other boy in acknowledgement. Fujiki Yusaku, the new guy in town, and just like her, he also came from Den City. For what reason he didn’t explain and anytime the subject would be brought up he would quickly dismiss it, but what Aoi did know was that he was staying as his cousin’s place, said cousin who happened to be very close friends with Takeru’s younger brother, Flame. Ai, Aoi believed his name was, and a strange name at that, but she never gave him the time of day before Yusaku moved here, as she found him to be very annoying, even for a little kid in her eyes, even if he was just two years younger then her, but now all those years of shrugging him off were starting to bite her right back in the ass. She may or may not have a not so huge crush on his cousin and couldn’t even ask him for advice on what to say to him without getting the cold shoulder. That apparently also translated over to Yusaku since while he got along fine with Kiku and Takeru, especially Takeru, he _really_ didn’t seem to like her. Sure there may or may not have been a reason to his unannounced disliking of her on her side of thing but Aoi has time and time again said she was sorry for what she did but it always fell on deaf ears.

“The people who brought that mansion finally arrived?” Aoi heard Kiku ask to Takeru, catching her attention from where she was trying, and failing, to not stare at Yusaku’s handsome face.

“Yeah in the middle of the night of all times!” Takeru stated.

“How do you know that?” Kiku questioned.

“Would you believe me if I told you that they rang my grandparents’ doorbell in the middle of the night just to ask for directions?”

 

**Friday, August 12, 0200**

 

It wasn’t so much as a ring as a giant air horn that caused Takeru to wake up so suddenly. Thinking it was his alarm at first, Takeru reached over to hit the snooze button on his digital clock but when that did little to nothing at all to stop the obnoxious sound, Takeru opened his eyes to find that one, it was still very dark out, and two, it was freaking two in the morning.

“The hell?” He groaned, grabbing his glasses before heading out to his grandparents’ living room, as that was where the sound seemed to be coming from, and he was met with two bright headlights of a truck shining right at him through the windows.

“What’s going on out here?” Takeru turned around at that to find both of his grandparents standing there. His grandmother looked very concerned while his grandfather looked out right furious at having been woken up so late.

“I don’t know.” Takeru answered, shielding his eyes with the back of his hand. “I think they are trying to get our attention.”

“Well they succeeded.” His grandfather spoke heading towards the front door. “You two stay here. I’ll go see what they want.”

“Grandfather, I don’t think that’s-” Takeru didn’t get a chance to finish as his grandfather had already unlocked the door and stepped outside.

“Okay, I’m up so you can stop all that honking and turn off those damn lights too!” He yelled at the person inside the vehicle.

Just like that, all the noise that came from the outside stopped and the lights were deemed down, allowing Takeru to see that the cause of all of this came from a moving truck with two additional vehicles parked right aside it. Stepping outside of the moving truck was a man who didn’t appear to be that much older then he was. His hair was grey, combed into multiple layers. He was dressed up in a white suit of some kind, appearing almost like a butler was the first thing that came to Takeru’s half asleep mind.

“I am terrible sorry to have woken you so late, sir.” The individuel apologized with a sincere bow. “It wasn’t my intention to do so but I’m afraid that we have gotten ourselves horribly lost trying to find _Kakuri_ and we didn’t know what else to do but to ask for directions.”

His grandfather didn’t look to please at that being the reason as to why he was woken up in the middle of the night for but at last, he let out a long annoyed sigh in defeat. “Don’t you have a map?”

“We do sir but you must understand it is not so easy to read it in the dead of night.”

“Then why are you driving so late to begin with?”

“It wasn’t our wish to do so but time seemed to have escape us. We been on the road for such a long time, sir, that we simply wished to be at our new home and out of these vehicles even if that means we have to drive straight through the darkness to do so.”

Takeru watched as his grandfather let out another long sigh. “ _Kakuri_ was it? You wouldn’t happen to be the family that is moving into the mansion on top of the hill, would you?”

The man looked surprised at that. “How do you know that?”

“Because you happen to be in _Kakuri.”_ His grandfather stated. “You must have gotten lucky with the right turn but you are here, kid. Your new home just so happens to be North of here. Keep on driving into town and you can’t miss it even with how dark it is. Fair warning though, the villagers here don’t take to kindly to be woken up in the middle of the night when most of them have work to do bright and early in the morning so I wouldn’t recommend pulling something like this again if you want to be welcomed here.”

“I’ll take your advice to heart, good sir.” The man bowed. “And once again, I’m truly sorry for causing so much trouble but I, as a representative of the Kogami family, am much grateful and I’m sure my master is very grateful as well for your generous help.”

That seemed to be the end of the conversation as Takeru watched the man get back into the moving truck and pulled out of their yard with the other two cars, driving away into the night.

“What was that all about?” His grandmother asked his grandfather when he entered the house.

“Poor folks have no common sense anymore.” His grandfather simply answered as Takeru watched as his grandfather led his grandmother back to bed, patting Takeru on the shoulder as he past by. “Go get some sleep, Takeru. You have school in the morning.” He reminded him as he closed their bedroom door behind him.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Takeru mumbled to himself with a yawn, heading back to his room, passing by his younger brother’s room in the process which happened to be the exact moment when Flame decided to wake up and leave his room at the commotion.

“What’s going on out here?” He questioned.

“Strange people are moving intro the area, Flame.” Takeru answered.

“I see...I was not informed that your biological parents were moving into the village.”

“And goodnight to you too, car wrecker.” Takeru slammed his door shut in his brother’s smug face.

 

**Friday, August 12, 1500**

 

Aoi stood at the bottom of the hill to the mansion that overlooked her whole village, staring up at it in awe. After school that day, she ditched her friends without a moment’s notice just so she could have a chance to be able to meet the family that has taken this castle as their new kingdom without her friends ruining the whole thing by giving her a extremely bad first impression. She wanted to be the first person that this family met, to know that there were some normal people in this village filled with lunatics and most importantly so they wouldn’t end up getting corrupted by the rest of the villagers. Maybe they end up liking her so much they end up adopting her and her brother to come and live with them? Maybe they had a gorgeous son that Aoi could fall in love with and marry into the family? Things weren’t going to go anywhere with Yusaku so it wasn’t like she was cheating on him or anything for liking another guy. Maybe they…

“Correct me if I’m wrong but last time I checked, it isn’t safe to be standing in the middle of the road, daydreaming, when a car could come at any moment and run you over.”

Aoi blinked at that, looking over to her left to see who the wise guy was, after all the most dangerous vehicle that ran around this area of the village was a tractor, but what her eyes were met with was the most handsomest young man she has ever seen and her words disappeared from her mouth before they could even materialize. His hair was white like snow with blue highlights that matched his irises perfectly that seemed to lack any brightness to them. His skin was noticeably pale compared to her own but not so much that it was a case for concern. He looked like the modern day version of a _Yukinko,_ was Aoi’s first thought other then _hot damn._

“I…” Aoi licked her lips, suddenly so dry. “Cars don’t normally come this way…”

The boy raised an eyebrow at that. “Is that so? I was wondering why it was so quiet around here. So serene. It’s nice to live in a area that’s so peaceful, isn’t it?”

“Peaceful isn’t the first word I would use to describe _Kakuri.”_ Aoi found herself saying.

“Oh?” He smiled at that, showing off bright white teeth. Even his smile was gorgeous. “What word would you use then to describe this place?”

“Confining.”

He laughed and damn, what part of this man wasn’t perfect at this point? “I can see your point in saying that. We are in the middle of nowhere after all. Isolated from the rest of the world. They took the naming of this place literal it seems. However, I do have to disagree with your statement. Confining maybe but I find that safe.” Before Aoi could ask what he meant by that, he held out a hand to her. “Kogami Ryoken.”

Aoi shook his hand, surprised to find how cold to the touch it was. “Zaizen Aoi.” She introduced just as she remembered what Takeru told her and the others about who exactly was moving into the mansion. “Kogami?” She pulled her hand away with a bright blush slowly starting to creep across her face. “You’re the one who moved into the castle…”

Ryoken seemed amused at that. “A castle?” He glanced up at his new home. “Hmmm, I guess I can understand what you mean by that. It is a lot more spacious than I thought it would be for just six people.”

“Six people?” Aoi questioned, wondering all of the sudden if Ryoken had five other brothers that were just as nice, stunning, and especially hot, as he was.

“My father is the one that technically owns the place.” Ryoken explained, his amusement turning to sadness in a instant. “He’s...not in the best of health at the moment I’m afraid though. City life was really killing him so I was hoping that bringing him to somewhere a lot more tranquil would help restore him to his former condition. We also have four addition servants living with us to help take care of him and of course the _castle,_ as you call it, should we ever have any guest that would like to come and visit for dinner and such.”

 _Four servants?!_ Aoi’s eyes widen in surprise. Good-looking, polite, and his castle of a home wasn’t just for show?! Holy cow, Aoi was for sure she was dreaming at this point. This meeting was turning out like everything she had dreamed of since finding out that people were finally moving into this place. How could things get any better from here?

“Speaking of which,” Ryoken continued on, his bright smile returning to his pale face. “Would you like to join me for dinner, Zaizen-san?”

Aoi blinked. Twice. Three times just to make sure she just heard that right. “Pardon?”

“I believe you heard me right. You have been such a joy to talk to, my dear, that I wish for this evening to not end just yet even though I must be on my way. I very much like to show my gratitude by _having you for dinner_.” Ryoken smirked and Aoi could definitely feel her face heating up now at the obvious sexual meaning behind it. Not that she was going to say no to this new development. This was, after all, everything she could have hoped and dream for from meeting her new neighbor. The only problem was her brother, who she promised she was going to head straight home to after school for their own dinner night, but it wasn’t like this would be her first time cancelling plans with him at the last second without even telling him. So the decision, in Aoi’s eyes, was obvious.

“I’ll be honored.”

 

**Friday, August 12, 1900**

 

“Uno.”

Takeru glared across at Flame who held up his final card smugly. “That better not be a wild card, Flame.”

Flame rolled his yellow eyes in response. “Unlike you, I actually follow the rules that we agreed on at the start of the game. Now play your card so I can beat you.”

“You aren’t beating me this time, little brother.” Takeru grinned as he played the card he has been saving for this moment into their pile of cards: a red plus 2. “Get to drawing.”

Flame glanced at the card, at his hand, then at Takeru. “How about,” he played his final card, his own red plus 2, “no.”

Takeru could feel his jaw hitting the floor in disbelief. The one loop-hole to their game. Stacking.

“Hmm, so that makes this what now? 10 to 0?” Flame questioned, adding another tally mark to his name on their score card. “Would you like to play again, simple-minded human?”

Takeru groaned at that. Ever since their grandmother banned Flame from calling Takeru stupid and dumb and so on, Flame has been rather _creative_ when it came to his name calling. “Really, that’s the best you could come up with?”

“Grandma said I couldn’t call you the “inferior one” anymore so at the given moment, yes.”

Speaking of their grandmother, it was at that moment that she ended up knocking and poking her head into Takeru’s room. “Takeru, have you seen Aoi-chan today?”

“Huh?” Takeru looked up at her as Flame started collecting the cards together, already assuming they were going to be playing another round. “Oh...uh, not since school. She suddenly just left without telling Kiku or me where she was going. Why? Did something happen?”

“Her brother, Zaizen-san, just called, asking if anyone knows where she is at. Apparently she didn’t come home for dinner.”

“She’s probably just out stalking Fujiki like always.” Flame spoke up, rolling his eyes once more.

“Flame!” Takeru looked over at his younger brother in shock.

“What? I’m just speaking the truth! We both know that’s all she has done since Fujiki moved in to Ai’s place!”

Takeru shot his brother one final glare before looking back toward their grandma. “She’s probably just running late.”

 

**Friday, August 12, 2100**

 

 _Running late_ quickly turned into the search party that was seen now. Takeru, along with his grandpa, offered to join in on the search. The news was spread quickly, not by just Akira, but by the rest of the villagers and soon at least one person from every household was out looking for Takeru’s missing friend around the village. A whole hour past by and still no one has found her. Takeru was starting to wonder if the worst has happened to Aoi until he heard someone yell.

“I found her!”

 

**Friday, August 12, 2200**

 

“She was found like this.” Akira told his best friend, as well as the town’s resident doctor, Kusanagi Shoichi, about Aoi’s condition. They were both currently in Aoi’s room, said girl lying in her bed with a dazed look on her face, Akira standing off to the side while Kusanagi was going through his equipment he brought, sitting in a chair by her bedside. “I tried to get her to eat something before you arrived but…” Akira let out a curse in frustration as Kusanagi did his check up on her. “What’s wrong with her, Shoichi? Is she sick and just passed out in the middle of the woods because of a fever? Was she attacked? I need answers!”

“I don’t know how she ended up in the woods, Akira.” Kusanagi started with a shake of his head. “But it doesn’t appear she was attacked by anyone or anything besides insects.” He gestured to the bites that were found on her neck. “It doesn’t appear to be a fever either. Her blood pressure is quite low however with her pulse being a little to fast as well. The only conclusion is that your sister passed out from anemia, caused by those bug bites of hers that ended up taking more than she noticed. I’m going to take some blood just to make sure but for the next few days, she is to be on bed rest as her body recovers. Understand.”

Akira nodded in understanding.

 

**Monday, August 15, 0600**

 

Zaizen Aoi died during the middle of the night three days later, much to the shock of Kusanagi, Akira, and her friends when they each received the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dramatic irony and foreshadowing for a lot of this at the beginning.
> 
> Especially for the wolf in sheep's clothing and his dialogue.


	2. Decay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I realized I wasn't as clear cut as I should have been when explaining some things, especially when it comes to the dates and times. I'm using Military Time for this story and I just like to say this now, pay attention to the dates and times. Unless I end up screwing something up going forward, and in turn have to go back and fix the times on posted chapters, everything should be accurate at the current moment. It will make sense going forward.
> 
> Also pay attention to the details. I might be terrible at writing details but I try to get the point across as best as I can when it comes to the irony and the foreshadowing. There is a certain detail in this chapter for example that connects to the next chapter and boy I just like to say this right now whenever I get that chapter finished, I am going WAY out of my comfort zone with that one but I'm trying to stay loyal to the original material of the Shiki anime so it has to be included.

**Monday, August 15, 0700**

 

The time of death was around 0200. The cause of death was acute heart failure.

When Kusanagi first arrived at the Zaizen household to confirm the death, Akira punch him right in the face. Kusanagi didn’t try to stop him. If anything, he was expecting it to happen. Akira cared more for his sister then his own life. His sister was his whole life and now she was gone, just like that, all because he misdiagnosed what was actually wrong with her for simple anemia. If anything, Kusanagi wished Akira had punched him harder for how stupid he was to think it was just anemia with the way they ended up finding her in the first place and for thinking that she would be able to hold up with just simple rest while waiting for her blood tests to come in. Kusanagi suggested to do a pathological autopsy to find the true cause of Aoi’s condition that lead to her death but Akira refused and honestly, Kusanagi couldn’t blame him.

 

**Tuesday, August 16, 0800**

 

Everyone was mourning the loss of Zaizen Aoi, a girl who was taken from this world to soon and while Yusaku wasn’t on good terms with his former classmate when she was alive, even he didn’t wish this upon her. He didn’t wish something like this upon anyone after what he experienced in Den City that caused him to move here in the first place. He decided to take a walk around the village to clear his head about this whole ordeal (Ai had stayed home to call his parents, Yusaku’s aunt and uncle, who were away in the Den City to finish up the paperwork regarding their custody rights to him) but that only seemed to make things worse as everyone was out getting ready for Aoi’s public funeral that was to be held at noon today. During his walk, Yusaku ended up passing by the mansion where the new family moved into, the Kogami family if he remembered what Takeru told him right, and was surprised to find Kiku of all people standing there, looking up at the castle with a sad expression.

“Aoi would never stop talking about how much she wanted her and Akira-san to move into that mansion. She was so disappointed when she found out she couldn’t, even more so when she found out that someone else was moving in there entirely.” Kiku told him fondly, before her gazed lowed to the ground. “I went to visit her when she was bedridden. It wasn’t much, she could barely speak, let alone keep her eyes open, but she told me about how she actually met someone from the Kogami family and how they took her on a tour of their home. At...at least she didn’t die with the regret of never setting foot in that mansion hanging over her head…”

Yusaku didn’t know what to say to that. How could you reply to that? He was never good at comforting people to begin with, especially when it came to the matter of death, a subject he was all too familiar with at this point. “Aren’t you volunteering at the clinic, Kiku?”

“Job shadowing actually,” Kiku corrected him, wiping away her tears that were threatening to fall. “Why do you ask?”

“If you were to become a doctor, or simply a nurse, stuff like this might just become the normal for you.” Yusaku stated, looking over at her. “Rumors spread like wildfire around here and that wildfire is that Dr. Kusanagi misdiagnosed Zaizen’s condition which lead to her getting worse and then to her eventual death. There's a difference between your best friend dying and a normal patient, I understand that, but I have to ask if any of this has changed your mind about wanting to pursue a career in the medical field if you knew that a simple mistake like that could cost someone’s life?”

“No it doesn’t.” Kiku told him outfront. “If anything, it makes me want to try harder and succeed so something like this never happens again.” 

 

**Tuesday, August 16, 0800**

 

Kiku said her goodbyes for the time being to Yusaku as she entered the Zaizen household. As Aoi’s closest friend when she was alive, Kiku felt like it was her duty to make sure that her brother was okay. Safe to say, he wasn’t taking her death very well. Kiku couldn’t blame him. Losing your younger sister was one thing but to lose her out of nowhere and at such a young age had to have ripped his heart out. It was a miracle that he was able to organize Aoi’s funeral at all even with the village folk coming together in their time of grief to help him. 

Kiku had past by Aoi’s room on the way in as her room was the closest to the entryway. Against her better judgement, she decided to have a peek inside. The room was the same as it has always been, neat with nothing much in it. Aoi wasn’t the type to hang momentos on the walls or keep stuff she would personally find valuable. She had kept what she needed after her move, Aoi told her during Kiku’s very first visit here, and nothing in the village has made her want to start hanging stuff up again as she was convinced that someday she was going to move out of here and back into Den City.

She kept a journal on her desk, filled with doodles of her life in the city when she would return. The most common one was of a character she created, her persona and stage name when she hit it big in show business that she called  _ Blue Angel.  _ Kiku could feel tears start to form in her eyes just looking through it. She really did die so young that all these hopes and dreams never even had a chance to come true. While also going through it, Kiku was surprised to find what appeared to be a letter. It looked to have been rewritten multiple times with the amount of smudge marks and the holes that were made through the paper ‘cause of the eraser. 

_ To: Fujiki Yusaku. _

_ I wish that I could talk to you as easily as I could write. I know you won’t give me the time of day but I hope that you will make an exception for this. I just want you to know that I am sorry about- _

The words become a mess after that, illegible to read from the amount of times that Aoi appeared to have second guessed her word choice and crossed them out.

 

**Tuesday, August 16, 1200**

 

“I have got to hand it to Zaizen! He went all out with this stuff!”

Yusaku let out a long sigh, glancing down at his younger cousin in disbelief who was currently eating his body weight in food straight from the food table without a care in the world. “Ai, we are at a funeral.” He told the younger teen. “Show some respect.”

“Hey, I’m showing my respect by just being here!” The black hair with purple highlights individual replied through a mouthful of food. “Give me some credit for that! It's not like losing Zaizen affected me or anything.”

_ “Ai.” _

“What? It is the truth! I mean, it's not like I hated her or anything, honestly I really liked her at first, but she has been nothing but mean to me ever since she moved here, heck to everyone really but I’m the only one to notice that through her quote on quote angel like appearance after sadly longer then I like to take credit for, and then you showed up!” He threw his arms up in disbelieve, bouncing a few plates of food in one hand while doing so. “Then she goes all lovey dovey loosey-goosey over you and suddenly I’m important to her just to get to you! Some people!” He rolled his eyes, taking another bite of his food. “This seems more like a waste of resources then anything. Never understood the point of funerals. Whoopty doo, they are dead so why not just throw them in the ground and get on with it?”

_ “Ai!”  _

“Yusaku!”

Yusaku shot Ai a glare to zip it, who only shrugged in response as he returned to one of his many plates of food, that honestly was just the food table in general, as he turned his attention to the person that called for him. It was Kiku who was holding something in her hand.

“Thanks for coming.” She greeted with a smile.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“I can name a few reasons.” Ai mumbled in the background.

Yusaku shot him another glare before turning back towards Kiku who was now holding out whatever it was she was carrying to him. A envelope?

“I..uh...found this in Aoi’s room. She apparently was writing this to you but...never got a chance to actually give it to you. It isn’t complete but would you accept it as a keepsake?”

Yusaku blinked at that, looking down at the envelope. He reached out to take it but before he could Ai snatched it right out of Kiku’s hand.

“Ohhh! What is it? Is it a love letter?” Ai had the biggest shit eating grin on his face as he waved the envelope around. “Oh that is adorable! A love letter from a dead girl! Oh but sadly it is to late for my dear older cousin to return her feelings as Zaizen has currently moved on to see other guys in the afterlife! Of course, there is always necrophilia if you are into that but-”

“That is enough, Ai!” Yusaku snapped, to his cousin and especially Kiku’s surprise, as Yusaku grabbed Ai by the wrist, took the envelope from him and handed it back to Kiku. “I won’t have you continue to show this amount of disrespect any longer. We’re leaving.”

“Hey, I was just joking!” The younger complained.

“There is a time and place for jokes, Ai, and this place isn’t one of them.” Yusaku turned back towards Kiku. “I apologize for him. He has no concept when it comes to life and death and I better take him home before he really says something he shouldn’t. I really do wish to stay but I have to watch him while his parents are out of town. Please give Zaizen my condolences.”

“Wait Yusaku!” Kiku cried, watching as the older Fujiki dragged the younger one away like an angry parent, leaving Kiku to stand there, holding Aoi’s keepsake.

 

**Tuesday, August 16, 1300**

 

“Poor Zaizan-san.”

“How on Earth did this happen?”

“I heard the doctor misdiagnosed her condition.”

“I wonder what happened to Aoi-chan when she was missing to have caused this?”

“She was such a little thing to begin with. I’m surprised she didn’t give out sooner.”

“If you ask me, good riddance to her. That child didn’t belong here. Nothing good comes from having foreigners around these parts. All they do is bring disaster onto our land.”

“You said it. If we are lucky, maybe Zaizen will kick the can next.”

Those were some of the things that Kiku heard whispered around as she watched as the villagers lowered Aoi’s coffin into the ground, never to see the light of day ever again. How could they say such horrible things to someone, especially at their funeral? Kiku had to hold her tongue just so she wouldn’t snap at them but the negativity seemed to only spread from person to person. What? What did they gain from any of this? 

Kiku looked down at the envelope she was still holding. It seemed that Yusaku didn’t want it if he so quickly gave it back to her without a second thought. Kiku didn’t feel like it was her place to hold onto Aoi’s final letter since it wasn’t her place to read it in the first place. Should she try and see if Yusaku would still take it or give it back to Akira? Or maybe it just didn’t have a place in this world anymore like its owner.

“Akira-san?” Kiku walked up to Aoi’s brother’s side who seemed to be in a state of complete shock at having to watch his little sister being buried right in front of his eyes. Kiku wondered if Akira was ever going to truly recover from this tragedy. Time heals all wounds was the saying but could time heal a broken heart when it was completely ripped out of your chest? “I...uh...may I bury this with her?”

Akira seemed to not have registered Kiku’s presence at first. He looked to be in his own little world, completely cut off from everyone else around him until she held out the envelope. 

“I just want Aoi to know that I’m thinking about her and to give her one last parting gift.” Kiku said looking down at the envelope once more.  _ And maybe by doing this, she can finish her letter wherever she ended up.  _ She hoped.

Akira looked from her to the envelope then back. After a moment, a small smile formed across his lips, even though his eyes were still dark. “I’m sure Aoi will be happy to know that you are still thinking about her, Kamishirakawa. Please go right ahead.”

Kiku smiled back at that and bowed. “Thank you, Akira-san.” She said before she went over to the grave to go place the envelope on top of the coffin before the villagers started to bury it with Aoi’s corpse. 

 

**Tuesday, August 16, 1200**

 

“Well that worked out better than I expected!” Ai flopped onto Yusaku’s bed with a large grin stretching across his face. “We didn’t have to stay the whole time and the best part being I didn’t get to miss my soaps! Speaking of which,” he reached over to the side table to grab the remote, using it to turn the television on. “I didn’t know you could raise your voice that high, Yusaku-chan. Are you sure you didn’t bust your voice cords in the process?”

Yusaku was seriously contemplating whether to rip out Ai’s voice cords after the hell he put him through. There were just some things in life you just didn't do. Being disrespectful at a funeral was one of them. “Ai, I know you don’t understand the first thing about common sense but even you should have known better.”

“Okay  _ mother _ ,” Ai rolled his bright yellow eyes. “Geez, I don’t even get a thank you?”

“For what? What in the world could you possibly get a thank you for?”

“You’re the one that said you didn’t want to go to the funeral in the first place.” Ai stated all serious in tone now. “I just gave you an escape route. Btw. You. Are. Welcome.”

Yusaku opened his mouth to counter that but closed it after realizing that there was nothing he could say to that. Ai was the type of guy who took things literal. If you told him you didn’t want to do something, this situation for example, he would find a way to get you out of there faster than you can say I. Still, even Yusaku didn’t think he would go to such extremes.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to go to Zaizen’s funeral, Ai.” He corrected him. “I just didn’t feel comfortable being there. Zaizen and I didn’t end things on good terms.”

_ And I don’t have the best history when it comes to death and funerals... _

“That’s putting it lightly.” His cousin crossed his arms. “The girl was  _ stalking you _ .”

Yusaku looked over at his window. The shutters were closed and have been closed ever since he met Zaizen Aoi. When he was studying one night for an exam, he caught her spying on him from the bushes outside his aunt and uncle’s place from the moans she was making. To say things got awkward fast between them would be an understatement. 

Ai followed his line of sight to the window. He stood up from the bed and made his way over to the shutters and pulled them open. “Well look on the bright side! At least with her gone, we can finally get some sunlight in here again! And man, you needed it too! You are starting to look like a vampire, Yusaku-chan! We just need a pair of plastic fangs and we got your Halloween costume all picked out for this year!”

 

**Wednesday, August 17, 0900**

 

Zaizen Aoi’s blood test results came in the morning the day after her funeral. Kusanagi didn’t know whether to be relieved or hate himself even more to find out that he hadn’t misdiagnosed Aoi’s condition, not fully anyway. She indeed had anemia but it wasn’t the type he thought she had. It looked like a standard case of iron deficiency anemia, the most common type, but it actually was normocytic-normochromic anemia. How she actually died from it was the part that Kusanagi just couldn’t wrap his head around. This type of anemia would be caused by bleeding and hemolysis for example, but Aoi had no visible external wounds or internal bleeding and yet, her condition worsen to the point of death. He couldn’t go against Akira’s wishes but Kusanagi couldn’t help but wish they actually did the autopsy on her just to find out what exactly was wrong with body in the first place that caused it to shut down so suddenly.

 

**Monday, August 22, 1800**

 

A whole week has past by since Aoi’s death but it only felt like yesterday to Akira since his little sister’s passing. Since the day of her funeral, Akira has been visiting his sister’s grave, always at the same time which was when they used to have dinner together. He would pack a lunch to take with him, some for him to eat and a share for Aoi as a offering. He would leave it by her tombstone, hoping that wherever she ended up she got a piece of it before the wild animals in the forest took the rest.

“The village hasn’t been doing to well since you left us, Aoi.” Akira spoke, placing a hand on top of the soil where her body was buried under. After saying that, he glanced over at the rest of the graveyard. When he arrived here today, the gravekeepers were marking down some areas with grave markers. When Akira asked what happened, they told him that the heat was taking its toll on the elderly. Most of them were getting very sick or departing to the afterlife, such as with the old married couple that passed away that the gravekeepers were digging their graves for. On his way out after his visit, Akira had a closer look around the cemetery. Since he started coming here more frequently, he noticed some things that most common folks didn’t but it didn’t register into Akira’s mind until those gravekeepers pointed it out. Since Aoi’s death, more graves seemed to have popped up. Akira read in the paper that some people in a neighboring village had passed away not long before his sister did and it seemed more deaths continued to follow in their wake. 

Just how many people have died since the beginning of August?

 

**Monday, August 22, 2100**

 

Homework was miserable during the summer weather. Even with his window open to let in some cold air and it being dark outside, Yusaku still couldn’t believe how hot it got around here. The beginning of August wasn’t so bad, the end of July when he first moved here wasn’t that bad either, but the transition period from the end of summer to the beginning of fall was the real killer around here, or maybe that was actually Ai, who staked his claim on the one giant fan they had in his household, leaving Yusaku to fend for himself against the weather.

Letting out a long sigh while wiping away the sweat that was starting to form along his brows, Yusaku paused in his work to see if there was anyway he could steal the fan from Ai but as he was making his way to his cousin’s room, he paused suddenly when out of the corner of his eye, outside his window, he saw something cause the bushes to shake. He almost didn’t move but after a few moments, he closed the shutters without even thinking about it.

 

**Tuesday, August 23, 0800**

 

The next morning, Akira stopped by the Ignis Foundation, the most famous convenience store in  _ Kakuri,  _ to do some light shopping. The Ignis Foundation was founded by the Ignis family, a group of brothers who really made a name for themselves here in Kakuri, with all the different kinds of materials that they sold here. Food, clothing, medicine, you name it, they probably had it somewhere in stock. Akira found himself stopping by here more often than not since Aoi’s passing. At times, he just found it easier to buy box lunches for her when he went to visit her grave then it was to make some big fancy dinner when he truly didn’t have the time to do so anymore. He just hoped that Aoi didn’t mind wherever she ended up. Heaven probably cooked better food then whatever he was making before hand, Akira liked to tell himself, whenever he starts to feel guilt about not always cooking for her. She probably got sick of his cooking too and maybe wanted some take out for some variety.

After picking up the box lunches, as well as some other things he needed, basic household items as well as some bandages and his medication, Akira processed to check out where he was greeted by the sight of Ignis Aqua. Aqua was the newest member to the Ignis family, having married into the family just last year when she married the middle brother of the Ignis family, Ignis Earth. Normally she would be full of energy whenever a customer entered the building, her bright pink eyes full of life and her twin blue ponytails moving all over the place from how ecstatic she was to help anyone she could. Today however, she seemed like a completely different person. She was sluggish, looking like she just crawled out of bed. Her eyes were dazed, barely able to keep them open for more than a second before they suddenly closed. She looked like she was about to pass out at any moment.

“Are you okay?” Akira asked her, concerned. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m...fine…” Aqua mumbled out, barely able to scan Akira’s items. She almost dropped Akira’s lunches a few times but was able to save them at the last second. She definitely wasn’t fine and truly looked like a cause for concern. After the situation with Aoi, and what he was told about some kind of summer cold running around lately that was taking lives, Akira, without asking for permission, went into the backroom of the store where he was greeted instantly by Aqua’s husband.

“Zaizen?” Earth questioned, who was currently in the middle of doing inventory. “What are you…? You aren’t supposed to be-!”

“Your wife is in no concern to be running the cash register, let alone working at all.” Akira stated adamantly.

Earth opened his mouth to rebuttal but cut himself short. “She...she was looking a bit under the weather this morning but she said she was fine.” He stated almost uncertain of his own words.

“She clearly is not fine.”  _ And Shoichi definitely needs to know about it.  _

 

**Tuesday, August 23, 1200**

 

“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Shoichi.”

Kusanagi simply nodded in acknowledgement as he took a sip from the tea that he prepared for Akira and himself. They were setting outside of Kusanagi’s clinic during this hot summer evening to discuss some things in private in a white gazebo right next door to it. He carefully sat his tea cup down, sitting upright to give Akira his full attention.

“To be honest, I’m surprised that you wanted to speak with me at all with how things ended between us the last time we spoke or did you simply come to punch me in the face again?” At that statement, Kusanagi rubbed the side of his face. “A week has passed since Aoi’s death, hasn’t it? Did you want to make this a weekly thing between us now? Seems kind of sudden, don’t you think, Akira? We haven’t even been on a date yet.”

His humor was completely dry, Akira noticed right away, and he only had himself to blame for the way things ended during their last meeting. “I’m truly sorry for that, Shoichi. I...I overreacted and I didn’t know who else to blame for in that moment other than you.”

“I don’t blame you.” Kusanagi stated, lowering his hand back to his side. “I wanted to punch myself in that moment as well. I screwed up and it caused you your sister’s life. I will never forgive myself for that and no apology can make up for that.” 

Akira glanced down into his tea cup. “Bringing up bad memories and punching you in the face again isn’t why I came here for.”

Kusanagi looked surprised at that, like he was actually expecting to get beaten to a bloody pulp today. “Then what is it?”

“I’ve been visiting Aoi’s grave since the day of her funeral and every time I go there there seems to be more and more graves being buried and grave markers popping up. Tell me, how many people have truly died since the start of this August in the village?”

“...there seems to be a summer cold going around. That mixed with the heat isn’t a good combination for the elderly around the village and sadly, some of them have passed away because of it.” Kusanagi explained, glancing away from Akira’ gaze. 

Akira narrowed his eyes in response. He was dodging the question. “Aoi wasn’t like those people. She was young and perfectly healthy. The most she had to worry about was overheating herself from physical education. Are you telling me that a little  _ summer cold  _ mixed with the heat is what killed my little sister?”

“No.” Kusanagi met Akira’s gaze head on at that. “Your sister’s death...I still don’t fully understand what the cause of it was but it definitely wasn’t no summer cold when it came to her. To be completely honest with you, Akira, I don’t even know what the actual cause of death was for all the others I have written death certificates for and you’ll seen getting ready to be buried.”

“I’ll ask again, Shoichi, how many people have died this August?”

“Ten.”

Akira froze on the spot. “Excuse me?”

“Ten people have passed away this month.” Kusanagi started, looking at Akira’s shocked face. “At first, it seemed completely normal. It was just nature taking its course. No one lives forever after all. Then...Aoi passed away out of nowhere from anemia. Like you said, she was completely healthy but she must’ve had something seriously wrong with her that I was unable to detect which lead to her death. A few days later, another young gentlemen passed away completely out of the blue. Three more elders after that, bringing the death troll to ten and those are just the ones I know about. Some of the villagers have gone to Den City to receive treatment but I haven’t received word if they were successful or not. I’m taking their silence as a bad thing however so who actually knows what the death toll is at the current moment.”

Akira was shocked into silence at hearing all of this information until he finally had the courage to ask what he was sure they were both thinking. 

“Do you think we have an epidemic on our hands?”

“If we are to assume the worst case scenario until we get more information.” Kusanagi replied with a shake of his head. “But it seems to be the only rational conclusion. When I asked the families of the victims how they were before their deaths and after doing my own examination on them myself, they all shared the same symptoms. It starts out as a simple cold or in Aoi’s case as anemia with them being fatigued and within a few days, it worsens to the point of death each time.”

“Fatigued huh?” Akira glanced out into the distance. So he was right to be worried about Aqua. He just hoped that Earth took his advice and took her home to rest if this was as bad as he thought it was. “I believe you know Ignis Aqua correct?”

“Yes,” Kusanagi confirmed, “Aqua-chan comes by the clinic to help around from time to time. Why do you…” Kusanagi stopped himself before narrowing his eyes in understatement. “Has she been acting strange?”

“She definitely wasn’t herself.” Akira answered with a shake of his head. “I was...buying groceries from her family’s store this morning and there she was, looking completely fatigued. She could barely keep her eyes open and looked ready to collapse at any second onto the cash register. If what you are saying about this whole thing is true, then whatever is going around and killing all of the villagers might have found its next victim.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am super creative when it comes to the names but in my defense, I can't be worse then the Ignises who are just the best when it comes to naming themselves.


End file.
